South Africa's incoming tourism grew by 3.6 percent in the face of the recession in 2009, Minister of Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk said on Thursday.

A record 10 million tourists are expected to pass through South Africa's ports of entry this year, says Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk.

Cape Town’s tourism industry stakeholders have taken steps to combat international perceptions of South Africa as “an expensive destination”, ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

South African is one of the top destinations for adrenalin junkies, according to influential travel guide Lonely Planet. The experience of swimming with sharks at Dyer Island made the top 10 of Lonely Planet’s thrill-seekers list.

Conference centres across the country are reporting a high demand this year as local businesses try to squeeze in conferences ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The newly refurbished luxury five-star hotel, The Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa, has once again been listed in the 16th annual Condé Nast Traveler Gold List 2010 as one of the 'Best places to stay in the world'.

The 2010 World Cup and the "Obama effect" of a US president of African heritage has sparked a surge in interest in much of Africa as a tourist destination, industry experts say.

South Africa has been recommended to global travellers as one of the most ethical countries in the developing world. 

Cape Town has earned a stamp of approval from the well known travel company Lonely Planet as one of the world’s top 10 party cities. This list is part of Lonely Planet’s new guide, the “1000 Ultimate Experiences”.

Twenty-nine South African beaches have been awarded Blue Flag status this year, Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk announced last week. This was ten more than last year and extremely good news for tourism, he said in a statement issued after a ceremony to mark the announcement at Muizenberg beach in Cape Town.

A South African one-man tour company has received a Global Vision Award from the New York based Travel + Leisure magazine. The Spear of the Nation tour company in Johannesburg was given the award for Grassroots Philanthropy.

The city of Cape Town and the Bulungula Lodge on the Eastern Cape’s Wild Coast were among the favourites of British travellers in 2009. The Guardian, Observer and guardian.co.uk announced the winners of their annual Travel Awards this week. Their readers voted Cape Town their second favourite overseas city, five places up from last year.

Cape Town's spectacular Chapman's Peak Drive, known simply as "Chappies" to countless cyclists and road runners, was reopened on Friday.

An eclectic mix of Las Vegas and Disneyland, where slot machines are king of the jungle, will be one of the top tourist spots trying to attract World Cup soccer fans next year.

Durban has been listed as one of the top 10 family beach holiday cities in the world by travel publishing heavyweight Lonely Planet.

South African hospitality establishments scored top marks in this years Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards with Cape based Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve earning the title of the World’s Best Hotel and Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve following in third place. 

Table Mountain climbed to number five in the New 7 Wonders of Nature global rankings on Monday, rocketing 24 places from its previous position of 29 last week. It is now ahead of legendary mountains such as Mount Everest, K2 Mountain and Mount Kilimanjaro.

South Africa's ever-growing desirability as a tourist destination has been further endorsed by superstar singer Josh Groban, who names the country as his favourite place on earth in a new travel book recently published by National Geographic.

More than 9.5 million foreign tourists spent R74.2 billion in South Africa last year, according to Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk on Thursday. 

This was 23.5 percent more than foreign tourists spent the year before, an increase that was "especially encouraging", he said in a statement. Foreign tourists spent R60.1 billion in 2007. 

Cape Town is one of the world’s best cities to live in if you are a man, according to the inaugural AskMen.com Top 29: Best Cities To Live In survey. 

Three South African lodges are included on the latest National Geographic Adventure magazine list of 50 top eco-lodges. Phinda Private Game Reserve, Tswalu Kalahari Reserve and Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve have taken their place among the top environmentally friendly tourism destinations in the world.

South Africa is a highly rated travel destination among Swedes, according to the 2009 Global Travel Awards, held in Stockholm earlier this month.

An extreme activities centre based at the old Orlando Power Station in Soweto is set to become a fully fledged, multi-purpose, adventure tourism facility, with the help of a R3.6 million loan from the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA).

Cape Town has been named in the influential Frommer's list of the Top Destinations for 2009. 

The New York Times has named South Africa one of the top destinations to visit in 2009, in the newspaper's annual travel guide of Places to Go.